


Kilindi

by TheAntleredPolarBear



Series: Maul Skywalker [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Maul learns how to swim, also some violence happens but it's not super graphic, just there are mentions of blood and things, so I tagged it to be safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 11:19:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15706176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAntleredPolarBear/pseuds/TheAntleredPolarBear
Summary: Water is rare on Tatooine, but Maul's best friend lives in a tank of it. Just proof that the life of a strange boy will contain many a strange individual.





	Kilindi

**Author's Note:**

> YEAH IT'S BEEN A WHILE HUH?

Twilight on Tatooine is always breath-taking. The sunset is beautiful, of course, but those precious minutes between the moment the second sun dips out of view and the moment the sky turns dark are the most beautiful of all. Red and orange streak across the great dome of the heavens, like fire bursting across the sky. The dark of night encroaches in the form of lilacs and pastel pinks, deepening to purples and then navy as the stars blink into view. The sand of the desert bathes in the receding golden light, reflecting suns no longer in view. Mesas accented by dramatic shadows cast long trails of shade.

Standing on the rooftop plaza of Gardulla’s palace, Maul pauses to take in the view before he brings Kilindi her evening meal. Every slave’s life here is miserable, even hers, but he does envy her this one thing; she can see the sky every night, and the suns every day.

He approaches her pool with the due care. It’s deep enough that the bottom is on the same level as the floor in Gardulla’s throne room on the storey below, where a long, transparisteel window allows a view into her “tank.” The tank is twenty-five metres by ten, lined with rock on its other three sides, and fenced off with barbed and electrified wire. An outcrop extends from one corner, and an island in the centre of the pool has a small shelter for her to escape from the heat. The bottom is littered with marine plants imported in from some far-off world. While they are beautiful, and possibly the only water plants on Tatooine, the real spectacle is Kilindi herself.

Maul allows himself into her enclosure, balancing the tray laden with fish on the duracrete wall surrounding it, and hopping over onto the rocky outcrop below. It feels so strange, to see this amount of water all in one place. How many people could have their thirst quenched with this? How many lives could this save?

A few moments into his reverie, the water ripples, and Kilindi surfaces. Only the top half of her head is visible above the waterline, and she stays mostly submerged, watching him with big, dark eyes. The first time they’d met properly she’d done the same thing, and he’d been rather perturbed by it. He’d left the tray on the outcrop and practically run for his life out of the enclosure. The next time he came, she’d approached him, apologised for messing with him, and struck up a conversation. They’d been thick as thieves ever since.

“I brought you dinner,” he says, lifting the tray to chin height. Slowly, she rises further above the surface, until her entire head is out of the water. The water barely ripples as she moves. Her eyes are deep and unblinking.

“What is it?” she asks. She has an accent that he can’t place, with heavy emphasis on the consonants. Probably a leftover from her previous owners.

“It’s fish, like usual,” he replies. “I think it’s your favourite one. The red one. I don’t know the name.” She smiles, and sinks beneath the surface of the water. A moment later, she resurfaces right beside him. She lifts herself out of the water and onto the outcrop at his feet, and he sets down the tray to sit beside her.

Kilindi’s skin is a beautiful shade of pale blue-green, mottled with darker spots over her arms, legs, back and face. The spots on her rounded face and nose are akin to freckles. She wears a bikini decorated with gold wire, but Maul made sure early on that she had enough blankets to keep her warm during the night. Her head is adorned with long tendrils she calls “tresses.” She tells Maul that they’re for sensing pheromones, whatever those are. He hasn’t asked her yet. Her tresses are a…sensitive topic.

When she first arrived, they were intact. But obviously they were too plain for Gardulla’s liking, and she ordered that they be decorated. And by decorated, she meant they be pierced and studded with jewellery. Chains of silver and gold, and studs of precious jewels and metals, puncture each of her tresses multiple times. They rattle and jingle with each movement of her head. Trust Gardulla to mar her beauty with something so _gawdy_.

Kilindi takes a piece of fish from the tray and pops it into her mouth. She always eats her fish raw. They sit cross-legged on the rock, watching the sky as the stars begin to shine.

“Can I ask you something, Maul?”

“Sure.”

“How come, in all the time you’ve been coming up here, you’ve never even touched the water?”

Maul swallows, and turns his gaze to the gently rippling surface of the pool. This amount of water all in one place…it feels _wrong_ , somehow. It sends thrills of energy bursting through his gut, and silent alarms screaming in his head. How many people could this water save? And how could he taint it with his filthy skin? Dirtying it with the sweat and grime that came with a slave’s work is…sacrilegious. Immoral. _Evil_. But, he doesn’t really know how to articulate that in a way that isn’t confusing, so he settles for a lame, “I don’t know.”

Kilindi pushes the tray away from her and slips back into the water. Keeping close to the rock, she moves smoothly around to face him; the water barely ripples. Then, she lifts up her arms.

Maul’s brow furrows, and he cocks his head a little to the left. He wonders if Kilindi wants him to hand her the tray of food, and he reaches back to pick it up.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Getting your food for you. What are you doing?” he retorts, the colour rising in his face as Kilindi starts laughing.

“I’m going for a swim.”

“Well, what’s all this then?” He holds up his arms in front of him, mimicking her.

Kilindi laughs so hard that she actually falls backwards in the water, rolling into a backflip to right herself. Maul drops his arms, chuckling. She resurfaces, still laughing, but suddenly clears her throat and assumes a more serious expression. She holds up her arms again, staring him down. “I’m going to teach you to swim.”

Maul’s stomach shrivels to the size of a pebble. The grin slides off his face, and he crawls backwards away from the edge. “No, no, Kilindi, no,” he stammers. “I…I can’t swim, I…”

“That’s why I’m gonna teach you,” she argues. “Now come on. Strip off and get in.”

“Take my clothes off?” he asks, mortified.

“Well, you don’t want to get them wet, do you?”

“But what if people see?”

“You can leave your underwear on!” she says, impatiently. “Who’d have thought you would be so prissy? Now hurry up! My arms are getting tired.”

As much as Maul dislikes the idea of swimming, the idea of Kilindi being unable to hold onto him while he does so is orders of magnitude worse. He pulls off his shirt, trousers and shoes, and makes sure his underpants are secure. Then, he sits on the edge, and dips his legs into the water.

It feels so odd, so foreign and strange, and he isn’t entirely sure he could describe it if asked. The water feels cool against his vibrant skin, and rushes between his toes. Not rough or scratchy like sand, but smooth and pleasant. He rubs his toes together, and feels them glide against each other, barely any resistance against their movement. He has to take deep breaths to calm himself, and to stop his arms shaking. He hadn’t expected to enjoy the feeling so much.

Eventually, he places his hands on Kilindi’s shoulders. She reaches up, smiling, to rest her hands on his waist. They feel cold and slippery, but comforting. They mean support.

“You ready?” she asks. The mirth is gone from her voice, leaving low, soothing comfort in its wake. Maul nods, and Kilindi helps him lower himself into the water.

A wide grin spreads across the Nautolan’s face, crinkling her wide, dark eyes. “See? It’s not so scary.”

“No, it’s scary,” Maul stutters, as he realises his feet aren’t touching the bottom of the pool. He’s completely suspended. “It’s really scary. It’s terrifying.”

Kilindi chuckles heartily. “It’s alright. I’ve got you,” she says. “Might want to start kicking, though. That’ll help.”

“Kicking?”

“Yeah, it’s easy,” she explains. “Point your toes down, and kick, like you’re walking in place. Not too fast.”

Maul does as she says, and finds himself bobbing slightly in the water. He’s afloat. He can barely believe it, but he’s afloat. He grins at Kilindi, the terror swirling in his gut now joined by thrills of excitement and joy. She chuckles. “That’s it, you’ve got it!”

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it!”

Kilindi grips his hands, and starts to move her own legs. Maul feels himself moving through the water. The same odd pressure he felt on his kicking legs now spreads through the entire front of his body as he glides in Kilindi’s wake. His legs rise up with the momentum, and he freezes as he realises he has no idea what to do.

“Well keep kicking!” Kilindi laughs. “You need to do some of the work here.”

“Oh!” He starts kicking again, obediently, and moves through the water slightly faster. She giggles, guiding him around the edge of the pool as he propels them forward. He can’t help but laugh along with her. He looks down, watching the bottom of the pool move underneath him. He’s keeping them in motion. He hadn’t even known what water felt like a few minutes ago, and now look at him! If only Mum was here to see it.

Presently, Kilindi guides him back to the edge of the pool, and shows him a particular piece of rock to hold on to. He grips the handhold, struggling with the slipperiness that the damp state of his hands affords him. Kilindi watches closely, gently holding his waist, as his breathing returns to a resting rate. She offers him another wide smile. “Got your breath back?”

Maul nods.

“Good. Because you’re going to need to take a deep breath exactly when I say.”

Well, that sounds ominous. But Kilindi gently takes hold of him again, and Maul finds himself trusting her once more. They move away from the edge, and into the middle of the pool. The deepest point sits about a metre beneath their feet. Maul starts kicking again, treading the water just as Kilindi said. She grins. “Stop kicking for a sec,” she tells him, and Maul obeys. He starts to sink a little, but Kilindi manages to hold him up. “Take that breath.”

No sooner has Maul filled his lungs and shut his mouth does Kilindi pull him under.

Maul instinctively holds his breath. He goggles at Kilindi under the water. By the Force, it’s terrifying. The water pushes in on him from every direction, crushing his nose, his lungs, his head. But Kilindi is smiling, and the smile is kind.

Before he knows it, Kilindi has pulled him back to the surface, into the cool air of the desert night. He takes a breath, sucking air greedily into his stinging lungs. Kilindi giggles.

“You could have warned me!” Maul blurts. He kicks a leg hard to keep his mouth above the water line.

“Would you have done it if I did?” she retorts.

Maul shakes his head. “Kriff, that was scary.”

“But in a good way, right?”

Maul meets Kilindi’s gaze, staring into those great, black eyes. They’re full of their usual mischief, but something else as well. Something calmer. “Yeah,” he admits. “It was…wow.”

Kilindi laughs raucously, throwing her head back with a great jingling of metal. Presently, she calms her mirth, and once again her black eyes lock on to his tawny ones. Another smile spreads across her face, a smile that sends a strange, tingling sensation fizzing through Maul’s abdomen. He tilts his head, confused.

And then Kilindi is pressed against him. She’s so close. He could count the links on the nearest chain if he cared to. Her eyes slide closed, and her lips meet the corner of his mouth. Pins and needles explode out from the point of contact. Maul freezes in shock.

Water forces its way up his nose, and Maul resurfaces, coughing and spluttering. His eyes water terribly, and there’s a horrible itching in his sinuses where he sucked in so much liquid. It takes him a second to realise that he’d stopped kicking in his surprise, and dipped below the surface. Kilindi pulls him back to the edge of the pool, and places his hands on the same rock as before, rubbing his back as best as she can all the while. Eventually, he sneezes the itching away, and starts to breathe heavily once again.

“Are you okay?” Kilindi asks. Maul can hear the hint of a giggle in her tone.

Maul nods. “Maybe we should get out of the water.”

 

They bundle up in a blanket together against the Tatooine evening. Kilindi grabs her tray of fish, offering him pieces that he continually declines. For the most part, they sit in comfortable silence, as the stars twinkle in the navy expanse above them.

“I’d love to see them one day,” Kilindi says, finally.

Maul furrows his brow. “What’s that?”

“The stars,” she replies. “I’d love to see them. _Properly_ see them. There’s so much out there that you and I don’t know.”

Maul follows her gaze. He tries to think of what little he knows. Everything was green, even the clouds and the rocks, except for the wide, azure sky, and the chocolate-coloured soil. Birds of every colour flitted about, belting their songs at the tops of their little lungs. He remembers how one sun is so much kinder than two.

Maybe he should ask his mother about it.

“Maybe Gardulla will sell you on someday,” he offers. “Or free you. Wouldn’t that be something?”

Kilindi smirks. “That pile of bantha dung. She’d sooner die than give up her _pet_.” She spits onto the rock. Maul adds his own saliva to the mess before responding.

“I’m sure that could be arranged,” he says. “You just have to talk to the right people.”

“And how would I pay for that?” she asks.

“Well, she’s given you enough jewellery for a roomful of nobles.” He gently taps a hanging jewel to make his point. It’s the colour of blood spurting fresh from an artery. “Or I could do it.”

Kilindi laughs, her head jingling as she throws it back. “You’d be cut down long before you got to her,” she retorts. “And even if you weren’t, even if you struck the blow, you’d be killed before she took her last breath.”

“It would be worth it, to die knowing that _stinking_ hag would come with me.”

Kilindi strokes his cheek, her fingers feather-light on his marked skin. “Not for your mother. Not for _me_.”

She leans close. Maul thinks she might be about to kiss him again. Part of him is embarrassed and frightened by the idea. The other part wants it more than he knew he could want. But she seems to realise something, and draws back, looking at him with black eyes stricken by fear.

“You need to get back inside.”

Maul stares at her, dumbfounded. “I…what?”

She shakes her head, the jingling and rattling of her jewellery only adding to the urgency. “Maul, you need to get back inside,” she repeats, more firmly. “And you can’t come back. Send someone else with my food.”

A lump rises in his throat. He’d hurt her, he knew it. But this can’t happen. He can’t lose his only friend. He can _fix_ this. “Kilindi, please, I…”

“Go! Quickly!” she snaps. “I don’t want to see you up here again, get it?”

Maul scrambles to his feet. His eyes burn, and something else starts to burn in him as well. “Fine!” he spits back. “See how you like it out here with no friends! I hope Gardulla _does_ sell you after all. Then you’ll get what you want!”

He wrenches the gate open and slams it shut, the whole fence rattling with the force of it. Fury roils in his gut. Why would she do that? Why would she toy with him so? Did none of it mean _anything_ to her at all?

It’s only when he’s back in the slave quarters, and curled up on a cot, that he realises what he has truly lost. He loves her. Not because of the kiss, or the swimming, or even the conversation, but because she had looked at him and seen something worth smiling for. Nobody ever smiles here, not even Mother. Kilindi is… _was_ his best friend. She was the only friend he’d had. And she doesn’t want him any more.

Just like Mistress Rynii.

Just like the woman before.

Maul clamps a hand tight over his mouth. There is serious punishment for disturbing the other slaves’ sleep, even if it is because you’re crying.

 

* * *

 

He ought to have known that his little excursion would not go unpunished.

His mistress, Gardulla the Hutt, had obviously caught wind of his grievances with her. He’d thought that he and Kilindi were alone when he’d talked of her cruelty, how much he hated her, how he often wished to see her killed. He’d even said that he would have liked her to die at _his_ hand. He curses his stupidity. She singles him out the very next morning. _Echuta kung,_ she calls him, and his blood _boils_. She forces him to strip to his underwear, and makes him kneel before her.

Then…then they cut him. They slice away the larger part of his horn with a blade, caring little if they catch skin or flesh or skull in the process. Kilindi hammers on the glass wall of her tank. This is what she meant, he sees that now. Warm, thick blood courses down the back of his head. His eyes sting. But he doesn’t scream. He doesn’t cry.

Well, not until they burn him.


End file.
